Finding A Place Called Home
by Rendered Reversed
Summary: AxI/AxU:FRIENDSHIP...Amu's voice was then drowned out by the allure of such strong, courageous warmth. It filled up her heart, pushing out all of the loneliness she had felt earlier that night. For once in such a long while, she felt determination.


**I'm just going to give myself a welcome-back hug to the Shugo Chara fandom. :x**

**...I disclaim the characters used in this story. The rightful owner for Shugo Chara! is Peach-Pit. Thank you~**

Faintly, Amu distinctly heard the chime of the grandfather clock from downstairs, signifying that it was midnight. Four to three years ago, she had been one of the saviors of the Easter affair. Two years ago was the last time she had had any contact with an Ikuto Tsukiyomi. Seven months ago, her charas had become locked inside their eggs. Today, she was officially fifteen.

"Happy Birthday, Amu." She whispered to herself, sparing a glance over to Ran, Miki, Suu, and Dia's eggs. As quick as her glance, she had shut her eyes and turned away from them. What would come now?

Everything seemed to go downhill since she had entered the seventh grade. She was now a sophomore in, coincidentally, the same high-school her stray cat had been in. Nothing seemed to be getting better… even though she knew that her charas were still technically with her, it felt despairingly lonely when she could still look at their eggs and not hear their high-pitched voices chime in their opinions in some random matter. Amu kept in light contact with her friends, all of them moving on to bigger and better things while she was still stuck in the past. Perhaps it was because she had entered the whole Easter debacle at its climax while all of her friends had been against it for a possible amount of _n years_ and when it all ended… it had seemed far too fast.

Still, out of the whole situation, she felt sorest about Ikuto. They had been in a nice, steady contact with each other until two years ago. He had simply cut off without a warning and for several weeks after she had wondered if something had happened to him. Countless times she had sent him letters, texts, e-mails, the whole deal, but she had never been on a receiving end of his replies if there were any. After a few months, she had grown angry. If something had happened to him, wouldn't there be someone contacting her about it? Tadase or Utau, possibly? Yet after being in light contact with them too there was no sign that they had wanted to speak to her about something as important at that, so she had let it be.

Now, laying here on her bed, she felt a strong wave of loneliness fill her. For the last few years she had reminded herself that she had never been alone, but never could Amu deny herself a bout of it here and there. A week ago her friends had held a reunion and though they all chatted over snacks like they used to, she never felt like she fit in anymore. Everything seemed so… perfect between them and it was obvious that they all held tight contact with each other. They had all had a nice conversation between all of them and during that she had tried to make herself fit again like a puzzle piece looking for a home. It had not exactly worked out.

Her hands reached up to finger the Humpty Lock as it had always done when she was troubled. It still held a bright, happy gleam around it even though its owner didn't feel so herself. Ridiculous as it was, Amu felt some jealousy for the inanimate object. How could it be so confident that its lock was still out there, somewhere, unharmed and safe? Honestly, Amu had always known her ability to over-think the smallest details would bring her bad luck. Too bad this was far worse than having some hard time.

A cell phone beeping shook her out of her stupor and brightened up the dark room as it flashed the tiny words on the screen. "Utau…?" Amu blinked. Why was Utau texting her? Flipping her phone open, she decided she simply would find out.

_Come to the park. _

That was it? Typical Utau; she was always concise with such things. Well, she didn't exactly have anything to do at the moment anyways. Amu got up off of her bed and stretched her arms, then reaching over to grab a pair of sweats and a light overcoat to fight the cold of autumn. Instinctively, her hand had reached out to take her chara eggs as if something were calling from them. She was frankly shocked; it had been forever since she had felt that light, pulse of energy rolling through her body. Amu looked down at the Humpty Lock again, which merely remained in its strange, glow like state that never faded, even in the darkness. Instinct it was. Gently taking the four eggs, she put them into her old chara pouch and strapped it around her waist again. It had simply been far too long.

Amu's cell beeped again and her reaction to picking it up was faster than last time. It was Utau again.

_ASAP. Bring your gear._

'Gear'? ASAP? Utau was always pushy about these things, but… something was different about this time. With a need to reply, Amu quickly typed in _coming _and pressed send. Immediately after, the house keys were off the hook and the door had already closed with a quiet creak.

_I'm coming, Utau… wait for me._

As soon as she reached the park, she saw Utau in her Seraphic Charm Chara-nari, trying to lull a group of x-characters. "Utau!" Amu shouted, getting her attention as she finished off the rest of them. There were many x-characters-turned-x-eggs on the ground, sleeping almost peacefully.

"Amu, you have to purify all of these! What are you waiting for?" she shouted back angrily, but it was obvious to Amu that she was exhausted and couldn't hold out much longer. Where were the other guardians? Weren't they supposed to be here?

"But… Utau, I can't! My charas… they haven't—"

"It doesn't matter! You have to try!"

"But…"

"Try Amu! Try!"

Suddenly, a mob of x-characters leapt out of the trees and released their negative energy upon Utau, shattering her transformation with Eru. That was all Amu needed to see to reach into a hidden courage she never knew she had to protect her long-time friend. Too long, it had been too long… yet irresistible energy pulsed from inside of her, drawing her closer and closer until she felt its burn as it crawled across her skin. Determination filled her blood-pumping veins. Didn't she promise to try to stop being so weak a long time ago? Wasn't that why her charas had come to her? Amu couldn't bear to shun what they had done for her and it was high-time that she really did something.

"My own heart, Un…Lock!" and then a wave of raw power surged through the area, blowing the x-characters back and even purifying some of the x-eggs, as Amu herself was encompassed in a bright glow of white light.

She couldn't believe it. Ran, Miki, Suu, Dia… they all floated in front of her pre-transformation state, when her soul was revealed to the rest and warmth would thrum inside of her beating heart.

"Amu-chan… it's time," they all cheered for her in their confident, upbeat voice.

"Time for what?"

"Time to save your friends again, Amu-chan."

"Save? From what?"

"We don't have much time… but you have to save them! Save them from the negative energy that has been consuming the positive, the break in the balance of their hearts…"

"Eh? The break in the balance—"

"Amu-chan! Hurry! The time left for us is waning…"

"Wait! Please, wait—"

"_Hurry…" _their voices echoed, slowly fading away as he was consumed once more with a surge of energy.

"Ran, Miki, Suu, Dia! Wait, come back! Please come ba—"and Amu's voice was then drowned out by the allure of such strong, courageous warmth. It filled up her heart, pushing out all of the loneliness she had felt earlier that night. For once in such a long while, she felt _confident. _She felt wonderful. It was such a euphoric experience, so unlike that of her past chara-nari. Only one time was there in her life that she had ever felt like this before and that had been when she had unlocked the Humpty Lock with Ikuto and chara-nari-ed into Amulet Fortune and Seven-Seas Treasure. Wait a second… shocked, her eyes flew down to the Humpty Lock where right beside it floated the Dumpty Key. How—? _It doesn't matter, _a voice said, _just use it._

And Amu's resolve broke as once more the energy flowed in her, guiding her hands to unlock the Humpty Lock with the Dumpty Key.

Utau stood in shock. Could it… could it be? The returns of Amulet Fortune… wait, that meant Ikuto—! Her head whipped around and from the blackness of the night leapt a figure so quick that she couldn't possibly make out who it was. Still that did not stop instinct from telling her exactly who it was. Hope swelled in Utau's heart knowing her brother and best friend were going to reunite and once again save the lives of those dearest to them. Eyes narrowing, Utau knew she couldn't just stand here either. "Iru, lets go!" she shouted, knowing full well that Eru was too exhausted to fight anymore.

"My own heart, Un… lock!"

Three voices then shattered the night, making the x-characters and x-eggs grow wary.

"Chara-nari! Lunatic Charm!"

"Chara-nari! Amulet Fortune!"

"Chara-nari! Seven-Seas Treasure!"

Three beings became one as they fought relentlessly against their opponents.

"Ikuto…"

"You're back, onii-san."

A smirk, "I'm home."

Three hearts reunited as exhaustion was on the edge of overcoming them.

Amu and Ikuto and Utau all supported each other as each limped back to the latter's apartment, eager to get some rest before catching up the day after. They had a long way to go to save the ex-Guardians, but that was fine. There was hope, now that they were all together. After all, who wanted to mess with the ex-Joker and two of Easter's best ex-employees? Certainly with all of them combined, Amu, Ikuto, and Utau were a force to be trifled with.

Unbeknownst to the trio, the Humpty Lock and the Dumpty Key began to shimmer with a foreboding light as if to silently warn of the hardships to come. Even without the warning, though, the shugo charas that fretted silently over their hosts knew deep down that they'd defeat any challenge that came their way.

"It's beginning again, isn't it, nya?" Yoru murmured from above.

"Well, it certainly isn't over," grumbled Iru.

"Utau and Amu will do fine. Ikuto will do anything to protect those two, so definitely, definitely the balance will be restored… Ran, Miki, Suu, and Dia are sure of it, too…" Eru trailed off. Sure, she had complete faith in her host and one-time host, also in the ex and current love interest of the two, but she couldn't help but worry. What if everything didn't turn out all right? What if—Eru paused and looked down at the three. Though they walked in silence, they were all in-sync with each other, having some sort of telepathic nature to communicate what could not be said in such a tired state. They were the symbol of confidence, determination, of _positive energy_.

Eru sighed. That was all she needed to confirm that despite the lack of knowledge of what was coming, everything was going to be okay.

**Sorry! This is a oneshot, therefore it would be extremely unlikely for a sequel~ If you have questions, concerns, comments, please drop me a review or PM.**

**I know this was slightly confusing, but I wanted to give it some type of spur-of-the-moment feel so you'd know what Amu felt like to be suddenly dragged into another mess that she had to clean.**

**Thank you all in advance for reading!**

**[****Why'd you have to have **Rendered **me **Reversed**?]**


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